Monday, March 27, 2017

As March comes to an end, I thought I would share a few thoughts on my growing collection of books that I use to specifically target social skills. I love using books in therapy for both language and articulation groups. Always have and always will.

Here is my little collection so far. The large majority of these books were written by Julia Cook. She is my go-to author for books to use with my Social Thinking groups. I would say that her books are best suited for third through fifth grade. I've read her "I'm a booger, treat me with respect" to younger students without too much of a problem, but "A bad case of the tattle tongue" was a bit too much for 1st-2nd grades. Otherwise, her books are excellent resources for addressing specific behaviors.

This is one of the books that I've used recently with my inclusion groups. I try to split the books up over two sessions. In the first session, we identify the character's problem and rate the size of the problem. It's pretty similar to what I do when using a video. We brainstorm expected and unexpected solutions for the problem. We review the problem at the start of the second session and see how the character actually resolves his/her problem. Then, I come to my favorite part of the entire lesson: creating an Unthinkable for the character's problem. In the case of this book, R.J. kept saying things that were mean even though he thought he was just saying the truth. My students had to come up with a name for their Unthinkable, a picture, a power, and a way to defeat their new Unthinkable. A few of their creations were "Sassy Susie" who says things that are sassy to adults; "Feedback Phantom" who gives negative feedback; "Feedback Monster" who gives negative feedback; and "The Truth Hurts Man."

Noodle, who we are currently following, happens to be one of my favorite characters from Julia Cook's books. He is someone that my students have really related to and have tried to defend. This, dear readers, is why the brainstorming is so important in my lessons.

Teacher buy-in is also crucial. I am really fortunate that all four teachers have trusted me enough to let me take over their rooms for an hour each week for these lessons. I had to get to another group one day before my students had a chance to share their Unthinkables. The teacher sent me this list of names on Facebook that evening so I could still see their terrific ideas. They've told me about how certain students are using these skills in the cafeteria and on the playground....it's just amazing to know how far they've come as classes.

I'm looking forward to seeing what they will do with our next book as many of them struggle with not wanting to make mistakes. I introduced the topic with Noodle and several of them told me then that they had never seen mistakes as a chance to learn.

What books do you use to teach social skills?

P.S. I purchased the majority of these books on Amazon and a few are from thrift stores.

Sunday, March 19, 2017

As I turned another year older this past week, I have done a lot of reflection on my life and clinical practice thus far. I thought I would share just a few thoughts that remind me of how blessed I am.

~I am blessed to have a wonderful husband who tries to help me in my never ending pursuit to find for X, Y, or Z for my students. Heck, sometimes he finds stuff on his own and notices that it might be something I can use.
~I am blessed to have both of my parents. At the beginning of my sophomore year in college my father nearly died in a car accident. A heavy duty work truck was driving above the speed limit on the other side of the road when his breaks went out and he went into my dad's lane rather than the ditch. This accident is what led me to find my career.
~I am blessed to be in the position to be able to help with my grandmother. As much as we can drive each other crazy sometimes, I am glad for this time with her because it is precious. It's hard to believe that she is my last living grandparent.
~I am blessed to have three wonderful fur babies. I am also grateful for all of my previous pets and the ones that are still with my parents.
~I am blessed to have wonderful friends.
~I am blessed to be a Speech-Language Pathologist. I get to touch the lives of so many people for the better.
~I am blessed to be healthy.
~I am blessed to have creativity.
~I am blessed to have my education (especially my time at Salem College).
~I am blessed to be a blogger. I have met so many incredible people and learned about so many exciting things through this blog.

About Me

I am school-based SLP who loves learning about different cultures, history, the English language, and ways to save money.
I earned my M.S. in SLP from Appalachian State University.
I have a B.A. in English and History from Salem College. This will be my fifth year as an SLP and my fourth year as a full-fledged CCC-SLP. I've had training in See the Sound Visual Phonics, Orton-Gillingham, Letterland, NC Reading Foundations, and Beckman Oral Motor